


"When She Was Bad"

by cool_cbear_g



Category: The Borgias (2011)
Genre: F/M, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-07-26 06:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7563427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cool_cbear_g/pseuds/cool_cbear_g
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cesare has a new girlfriend, and Lucrezia isn't happy. At all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [50251sid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/50251sid/gifts).



> "There was a little girl who had a little curl  
> Right in the middle of her forehead.  
> When she was good, she was very, very good,  
> But when she was bad, she was horrid."
> 
> Traditional Nursery Rhyme

Lucrezia loved her brother Cesare. She really, truly loved him, and she knew he adored her right back. She had loved him her whole life, and as her older brother he had protected her and spoiled her for as long as she could remember.

  
When she was twelve, he and his best friend Mick, their cousin, had beaten up a mean boy who, she told them, had laughed about her stuffing her bra with Kleenex. Not only that, they had made him apologize when he returned to school after the cast on his arm was removed. She never told them that she had made the story up to see if they would do as she asked.

  
When she was thirteen, he had driven in his new car straight from the showroom to pick her up from school because she had had an accident and wet herself. She had cried down the phone and begged him to come and get her. She didn’t tell him that she had got a detention for failing to do her homework, so she had splashed water on herself and tied her sweater round her waist to fool him. She couldn’t wait to be the first to sit in his new Audi cabriolet, and he might have given someone else the inaugural ride if she’d stayed for detention.

  
When she was fourteen, she had persuaded him go to the store and buy her some sanitary products. Of course, she hadn’t really run out, nor was she in pain or crampy. She might look like a ditz, with her huge blue-grey eyes and her tumbling blonde curls and her pink pouty lips, but she was very organised in her own way, very controlled. She had really wanted to see if he would oblige. Of course he took Mick with him for moral support, but that was fine by her. That Cesare did what she wanted him to do was the most important thing, despite the embarrassment he had felt.

  
For brother and sister, they didn’t really look alike. He was very tall, and very dark with green eyes and a slender yet powerful physique. She was tiny, very fair with blue eyes and a curvy figure. But she had figured out how to make her eyes well up with tears, and her lip to tremble ever so slightly. If she concentrated really hard, she could make just one tear spill over and rest on her cheek. She saved that trick for when she really, really wanted something.

  
Now Cesare had met a girl and brought her home to meet the family. Charlotte was pleasant to her, charming to her mother and witty with her father. Cesare gazed at Charlotte as if she was one of the seven wonders, and Lucrezia knew what she had to do.

  
‘Mick,’ she beamed at Cesare’s friend and shadow as he got himself a drink of water in the kitchen.

  
‘Hey Lucrezia,’ Mick nodded at her, ‘what’s up?’

  
‘You know Charlotte,’ Lucrezia deliberately kept her voice light, but she watched Mick carefully and was sure she saw a shadow pass over his face, ‘Cesare’s girl?’

  
‘Yep.’

  
‘Does she have a job, do you know? I was so excited to meet her the other evening I forgot to ask what she does.’

  
‘A gallery and gift store over at the wharf. On Saturdays, when she’s not in college.’ Mick’s normally low tones became even harder and Lucrezia looked at him curiously.

  
‘Don’t you like her, Mick?’

  
He shrugged and ducked his head, drinking his water and turning away to rinse out his glass.

  
_‘He_ likes her.’

  
Lucrezia beamed again at the tone she heard in Mick’s flat voice, and took a deep breath.

  
‘Well, Mick. As long as he likes her, that’s the main thing.’ Mick shrugged and went out of the back door to continue helping Cesare tune up his car.

  
Lucrezia decided she needed something to decorate her bedroom, and she might just find it at the gallery and gift shop on the wharf.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucrezia walked breezily into the gift shop, hearing the tiny bell above the doorway tinkle her presence. The youth behind the counter looked up and nodded at her and she beamed her brightest smile back. The youth blinked in surprise and looked away.

Lucrezia sauntered down an aisle, looking at the things artfully displayed on the shelves. She lifted a snow globe and watched the flakes gently settle round the lighthouse depicted inside. Further back on the shelf, hidden by ships in bottles, there was another snow globe of a beautiful mermaid, with long blonde hair shielding her breasts and an iridescent green tail curving round a rock. The mermaid reminded Lucrezia of herself. She put it back carefully and moved round into the next aisle, which was filled with souvenirs made from shells and driftwood. Some of it was pretty, she thought, but some of it was just junk for the tourists.

She heard a female voice coming from the storeroom behind the cash register, obviously on the phone. She made her way round the shelves towards the youth, playing on his cell phone. Lucrezia gave him another stunning smile.

‘Is there someone I can ask about some of the things on your shelves?’ she asked brightly, trying not to laugh out loud at the dumbfounded expression on his face.

‘Charley!’ he shouted, never taking his eyes from Lucrezia. ‘Charley! Customer!’ Lucrezia kept the smile fixed to her face as she heard Charlotte end her conversation and then slide aside the bead curtain that separated the shop from the stock room. 

‘Oh, hello there.’ Charlotte smiled at Lucrezia, who widened her eyes in surprise.

‘Charlotte. I didn’t expect you to work here. When this young man yelled ‘Charley’, I thought the assistant would be male.’ Lucrezia shrugged and allowed herself to giggle.

‘Everyone calls me Charley.’ Charlotte shrugged, ‘and Josh here is on punishment detail from his dad. He has to man the cash register because he got a D in math,’ she lowered her voice, ‘but his people skills are a little lacking, so I deal with the customers and he just rings in their purchases.’

Lucrezia wrinkled her nose in amusement at Charlotte’s words and breathed a laugh.

‘Cesare doesn’t call you Charley.’ Lucrezia watched Charlotte’s face carefully as she mentioned her brother, and she saw a dreamy smile pass over Charlotte’s face before she replied.

‘Cesare is special. I don’t mind that he calls me Charlotte.’ Lucrezia took a breath.

‘I wanted to look at some of these globes,’ she smiled and shook her head helplessly, ‘but I’m not tall enough to reach those at the back.’ Charlotte weaved her way round the shelves until she reached the ones with the snow globes.

‘You mean this?’ Charlotte lifted down the mermaid snow globe that Lucrezia had examined and held it up. Lucrezia nodded.

‘Momma and Daddy have just remodelled my bedroom. It’s been done in white Provençal style, with crackle glazed furniture and a white bedstead. I love it, but Momma’s decorator wants to go the whole nine yards with the nautical theme and have navy accents.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘I would prefer something softer, aquatic greens and pale lemons I think. Navy seems too masculine for me.’ Lucrezia widened her eyes again and blinked at Charlotte.

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically, ‘We have some more green things over there. Companion pieces to this,’ she held up the snow globe, ‘done by a local artist. Come and look over here.’

Lucrezia dutifully followed Charlotte to another rack, where she reached towards the back and brought out a diorama enclosed in a glass dome of a green scaled dragon that was climbing up the walls of a turreted castle. She handed it to Lucrezia who examined it carefully.

‘It’s a little dark for the taste of the customers we get in here, which is why it’s over here. They like their dragons more friendly,’ she swept an arm to indicate the shelves of dragons with cute smiling faces and little hands instead of claws. The dragon Lucrezia held had claws holding onto the castle walls, with sharp yellow teeth in its open mouth and a blood-red tongue about to unfurl. The castle’s highest turret was painted to appear as if people were inside, and Lucrezia thought she could see the shadow of a figure in the room.

Charlotte continued, ‘It is made by the same person who made the mermaid snow globe. You can see the scales along the dragon’s back match those on the mermaid’s tail, and the rocks are similar.’

Lucrezia nodded in fascination, then looked up brightly. ‘I’ll take them both, please. And do you have any pictures? Paintings? In greens and lemons?’ Charlotte nodded and led Lucrezia round to the gallery at the far end of the shop.

Lucrezia chose a landscape painting of the ocean at sunrise, with the sunlight a strangely luminous yellow glow peering through grey clouds over a green storm-tossed sea, the waves topped with foamy white caps. It was a picture full of potential ferocity, which made the observer unsure as to whether the storm’s intensity was just building or had just passed. The duality it exhibited appealed to Lucrezia immensely.

‘I simply love it,’ beamed Lucrezia, ‘it is so primal.’ She smiled up at Charlotte, then allowed her forehead to pucker slightly, ‘And I need a matching dreamcatcher for my window. Do you have those?’ Charlotte nodded and led the way down to another display of dreamcatchers, in all colours with beautifully intricate feather and beadwork. Lucrezia chose one with peacock-green feathers.

‘I have very bad dreams, you know?’ Charlotte nodded sympathetically. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if Cesare didn’t come and wake me, or sit with me through the night terror. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up to find Cesare asleep on the window seat.’ Lucrezia huffed a small laugh at her own foolishness and allowed tears to pool in her eyes, then blinked them away. Charlotte squeezed her arm sympathetically.

‘ Lucrezia, would you like to get lunch?'


	3. Chapter 3

Charlotte gazed down into Lucrezia’s upturned face and continued, ‘I’d like to find out more about Cesare, and your family. He’s so special, but I’m new in town and I know very little about him. About anybody, really.’ Lucrezia nodded enthusiastically and Charlotte told Josh she was stepping out for lunch. He grunted and went back to his phone.

‘There is a coffee shop a couple of doors down that does a mean ham and cheese panini,’ Charlotte said as she tucked her purse under her arm and pushed her sunglasses up her nose.

‘Do they offer milkshakes?’ asked Lucrezia eagerly. Charlotte laughed easily, ‘I’m sure they will. They do beautifully foamy cappuccinos, so they must have milkshakes.’ Lucrezia giggled excitedly as she pushed open the door of the coffee shop and sat down at an empty table in the window, looking out across the water.

The waitress came over and took their orders for lunch, and Lucrezia regarded Charlotte, making her gaze guileless and her blue eyes huge.   
‘Charlotte, it is so nice to get to know a girlfriend of Cesare’s. He hasn’t had much luck before.’ She sighed and slid her eyes to the side. Charlotte’s brows rose and she looked at Lucrezia enquiringly.

‘Please call me Charley. I think we are friends, yes?’ Lucrezia nodded, smiling. ‘But why wouldn’t Cesare have any luck with girlfriends? He’s gorgeous, and charming and funny.’ Lucrezia leaned forward across the table and lowered her voice conspiratorially.

‘Well, he got dumped just before his senior prom.’ Charlotte gasped in shock and Lucrezia continued, whispering now, ‘Ursula. Her parents made her break up with him, and then they packed her away to a faith based school.’ Lucrezia smiled sadly and shook her head. The waitress appeared and placed a thick strawberry milkshake in front of Lucrezia and a foaming cappuccino beside Charlotte.

‘Why would they make her break up with him?’ asked Charlotte. 

Lucrezia shrugged and began stirring her straw into her milkshake, pushing the fresh strawberries down through the cream and ice cream swirled on top and holding them in place in the milk before letting them go and watching them slowly start to rise again. She shook her head and looked at Charlotte sadly, eyes filming with tears.

‘I don’t know. And she’d started to be my friend. She tutored me in Biology to get my science grade up.’ Lucrezia dropped her voice lower, ‘She was very religious though. Some of the things we had to learn that semester made her uncomfortable. Anatomy and stuff.’ Lucrezia blushed and played with her straw for a while. Charlotte sipped her coffee and they waited for their food. At last the waitress came with their paninis, carefully garnished with a tiny dressed salad and a small ramekin full of kettle chips.

‘Ooh, yum!’ Lucrezia attacked her food with gusto, and Charlotte elegantly nibbled on a chip.

‘So, what happened next?’ asked Charlotte curiously, and Lucrezia chewed and then wiped her sticky lips on a napkin, shrugging again.

‘She said she wanted to be friends. And she asked me to tell her a secret about Cesare, something that our parents didn’t know.’ Lucrezia let her face darken at the memory and she sipped her drink. ‘I made her promise not to tell anyone, Charley. She even pinkie-swore.’ Lucrezia’s eyes again glistened with unshed tears. Charlotte gave her an astonished look and whispered across the table, ‘What was the secret?’ Lucrezia glanced up slyly and then poked hard at another strawberry.

‘I only told her about Cesare and Mick watching porn in his room, laughing and throwing popcorn at the screen. We share a bathroom and I could hear them through the wall, jeering and shouting.’ She looked in horror at Charlotte and gasped, ‘Please don’t tell him I told you, Charley. He would never forgive me.’ Charlotte smiled kindly at the younger girl and covered her hand.

‘Men watch porn movies, sweetie. At least if they were jeering, they weren’t taking it seriously. But I promise not to tell him you told me, or told Ursula.’ Lucrezia waved her hand negligently.

‘Oh, he knows I told Ursula. I told him that myself. He shrugged and laughed and then went to the prom with Mick. They went stag, and he told me they had more fun than if they’d had dates. I meant don’t tell him I’d told you.’ Charlotte’s smile was a little bewildered, and she took a bite of her panini to cover her confusion. Lucrezia pushed a feeling of glee down and sipped her milkshake, sucking in her cheeks as she took a gulp with wide innocent eyes.

‘Then last year he met Katrina.’ Lucrezia gazed at Charlotte to gauge how much more she should tell her on this first meeting, but Charlotte nodded eagerly so Lucrezia gave a negligent shrug and drowned another strawberry with her straw.

‘She was really too old for him, but Cesare didn’t seem to care. She had some business connection with Daddy, and Momma was appalled that she would allow Cesare to take her out. I heard her and Daddy arguing about it.’ Lucrezia sucked on her straw again and while her lips were pursed she mumbled, ‘What’s a cougar, Charley? Do you know? Momma said Katrina was a cougar, and I know it was an insult.’ Charlotte struggled to swallow her mouthful of coffee and had to clear her throat before she could speak.

‘It’s an unkind word for an older woman who goes out with a younger man.’

‘Oh!’ Lucrezia shrugged it away, ‘Well, she was a widow and she had a son, Ben. He was lovely, really cute and sweet, but he hated me. He snuck up on me when I was asleep out by the pool and cut hanks of hair off me.’ She swallowed more milk, making a slurping noise at the bottom of the glass and then picking up the long spoon to fish out the strawberries. As she looked for her spoon, she glanced askance at Charlotte through her hair and saw the bewilderment on her face.

‘Honestly, Charley, I begged Momma not to tell Cesare what had happened, to make it like I had tried to cut my own hair, but she insisted on him knowing the truth, and Cesare was so upset that Ben didn’t like me that he broke up with Katrina.’

Lucrezia turned her mouth up at the corners in a sad little smile at Cesare’s bad luck with women. She had left out the part where she had cut some locks of her own hair and left them in the sandbox where Ben used to play, and he had picked them up to look at them just as she had leaped from the sun lounger howling about her missing curls. They had needed thinning anyhow, she thought, as all that hair made her hot in summer. And the best thing had been Cesare’s anger at her uneven locks; she had never seen him that mad, and it made her feel wonderfully cherished, if he cared that much just about her hair.

‘Well, I can assure you that I won’t cut your hair, sweetie,’ laughed Charlotte as she finished her meal and laid her credit card on the plate to pay. ‘And I’m sure we will be great friends. In fact, if you would like to, you could do me a huge favour.’

Lucrezia widened her eyes as far as she could and nodded eagerly.

‘Would you come out with us? Kind of like a double date? To a restaurant or something? Mick is either with him, or meeting up with him after our dates, so perhaps you could come with us? And keep Mick occupied while Cesare and I get some time alone?’

Lucrezia beamed at Charlotte, ‘Sure!’


	4. Chapter 4

‘Hey, Mick.’ Lucrezia jumped up and sat on the counter top at the back of the garage, swinging her tanned legs exposed by denim and lace shorts, her shirt tied just under her bust. She beamed at him delightedly, having managed the jump and sit in one smooth motion. ‘Whatcha doing?’

‘Hey. Finding a wrench for the car.’ Mick jerked his head back in greeting and carried on opening cupboards and drawers.

‘Your car?’ Lucrezia nodded to the truck parked under the car port out of the sun.

‘Yeah. Transmission’s a bit sticky so I thought I’d take a look.’ Lucrezia nodded sagely, as if she knew exactly what he meant.

‘Is Cesare with you? I haven’t seen him.’ Lucrezia knew that Cesare’s car was gone from the garage.

‘Nope. Some errand for your dad. Said he wouldn’t be long.’ Lucrezia let her shoulders droop in disappointment and she huffed out her breath in a heavy sigh.

‘What’s up? Did you want him for something?’ Lucrezia pressed her lips together and shrugged, deliberately looking away from Mick’s ice-blue gaze.

‘Nothing important,’ Lucrezia shook her head and lowered her eyes, ‘he must have forgotten. I’ll catch him when he gets back.’ She dipped her head again so the tear that had spilled from her lashes dropped onto her knee with a faint ‘plop’.

‘Hey, Lucrezia. Don’t be upset. What did he forget?’ She summoned more tears before she raised her head and looked Mick in the eye as she shrugged again.

‘Just he said he would take me out to practice my driving is all.’ Lucrezia shook her head sadly and let one of the tears fall, pressing her mouth together in a line while it traced down her cheek to the corner of her lips.

‘Hey, don’t cry. Lemme tighten this bolt and I’ll take you. If you want?’ Mick hefted the wrench in his hand and didn’t meet her eyes as he waited for her reply. She gave a huge sniff before whispering, ‘Yes please, Mick. That would be so kind. Are you sure you don’t mind?’

‘I’m sure.’ Mick reached under the car, wriggling himself along with his shoulders, then Lucrezia heard a couple of clangs and a grunt from Mick before he resurfaced. ‘Loose bolt is all.’

‘Let me wash up, and change my tee. Hop in, I won’t be long.’ Lucrezia clambered into the front seat of the truck while Mick disappeared into the laundry room just off the car port, reappearing almost instantly in a clean white tee shirt and drying his hands on a cloth.

He swung smoothly up into the driving seat beside her and said, ‘The light industrial estate on the edge of town, ok? Plenty of practice room there, and they aren’t open on the weekends.’ Lucrezia nodded enthusiastically and Mick let out the clutch.

‘This is so great of you, Mick,’ Lucrezia beamed at him and he raised his brows before dragging his eyes back to the road. They had left the residential part of town behind and drove past a strip mall and a couple of motels before taking a right turn into the industrial estate.

‘No trouble. How much driving have you done?’

‘A little bit. I can go straight, and I can corner ok. I don’t like going to fast though, and Cesare’s car can get up some real speed.’ Mick chuckled in the back of his throat.

‘You might be safer in this then. It’s a bit bigger than Cesare’s car, but it has power steering. And it doesn’t go anywhere near as fast.’ He came to a stop and put the truck in park. Then he opened the door and jumped out. Lucrezia stayed where she was until he came round the other side. He opened the door and Lucrezia swivelled in the seat, holding out her arms to be lifted down.

‘It’s a bit high for me to jump,’ she smiled, hoping he wouldn’t wonder how she had got in without help. Mick blinked at her impassively and put his hands round her waist, lifting her down and setting her carefully on her feet.

‘Thanks, Mick.’ He nodded briefly and then followed her round the other side, picking her up and lifting her into the cab of the truck. Lucrezia widened her eyes at him and smiled again.

‘You sure are strong, Mick.’ He looked at her and snorted.

‘You don’t weigh more than a baby.’ He climbed into the passenger seat and Lucrezia carefully turned the key to start the engine, taking the truck out of park and pressing the accelerator gently. Mick nodded that she was doing everything right, and Lucrezia drove round the marked roads of the enclave carefully, trying her best not to grind the gears. After half an hour of maneuvering the vehicle she drew to a gentle stop and looked at Mick, who nodded his approval.

‘Has Cesare said anything about us going out, Mick?’ She widened her eyes as she asked the question.

‘Going out? Who? You and me?’ Mick was bewildered.

‘No, not you and me, like _that.’_ She giggled softly to take any sting out of the words, ‘You and me going out with Cesare and Charlotte.’

‘What, as third wheels?’ Mick grunted his displeasure at that thought, and Lucrezia placed her hand on his arm. Beneath her fingers she felt his muscle tense and flex.

‘As company. A double date, if you want to think of it that way.’

‘He’s not said anything. Has he to you?’ Lucrezia could still feel the tension in Mick’s arm, so she removed her hand and looked at him wide-eyed.

‘No, but Charlotte invited us. I don’t know if she’s told Cesare yet.’

‘When did she do that?'

‘I bumped into her at her gallery. She took me out to lunch to find out more about Cesare.’

‘Did you like her?’ Mick’s tone had become tight.

‘ _She_ likes him.’


	5. Chapter 5

Charlotte pulled the van around the turning circle in the Borgia driveway and parked in front of the huge double doors. Lucrezia rushed outside and trotted down the shallow steps, throwing her arms round Charlotte in an affectionate hug.

‘Charley! How lovely to see you. Did we know you were coming?’

‘Not really. But I thought I’d bring the things you bought in the shop.

‘Oooh, thank you.’ Lucrezia ran round to the back of the van and bounced excitedly on the gravel, setting the bracelets she wore at her wrist and ankle jingling merrily as she waited for Charlotte to follow.

‘Is Cesare here?’ Charlotte gazed around hopefully and Lucrezia continued to bounce as she grinned at Charlotte.

‘No, silly. He’s at work.’ Lucrezia shrugged and dropped her gaze so Charlotte didn’t notice the smug smile pulling at her mouth.

Charlotte reached in and handed Lucrezia the dreamcatcher she had bought, then put two small sturdy cardboard boxes on the gravel and reached in to slide the picture from the rack bolted to the side of the van. As she brought it out, she heard other footsteps crunching the gravel.

‘Charlotte, my dear. How lovely to see you again.’ Vannozza Borgia’s gracious tones were well modulated and gentle. ‘Do let me get Bert to help you with this.’ She turned to fetch the servant, but Charlotte spoke quickly.

‘No, please don’t trouble yourself, Mrs Borgia. I can bring this, if you wouldn’t mind taking those two boxes. They aren’t heavy, just fragile, and Lucrezia has got her dreamcatcher.’ Charlotte nodded to Lucrezia, who had already raced up the shallow front steps and was holding up the dreamcatcher and watching the sun glint on the crystals hidden amongst the feathers and beads.

Vannozza picked up the boxes carefully and then allowed Charlotte, encumbered by the picture, to proceed up the steps in front of her.

‘Can we take them straight up, Momma? Please? I would really like to show Charley how wonderful you have made my room look.’ Lucrezia danced backwards, eyes and smile fixed on her mother but very aware of Charlotte gazing up the grand staircase.

‘All right, sweetie. Can you take these boxes from me, as well as your dreamcatcher? If you and Charlotte go on up, I’ll find Bert and see if he has any picture hooks handy. We can get it on your wall then.’ Vannozza smiled at her excited daughter and Lucrezia took the boxes carefully.

‘Ok, Momma. Ask him if he’s got a tiny hook for this too, would you please?’ She nodded to the dreamcatcher and then turned to Charlotte as her mother made her way down towards the back of the house. ‘Then perhaps Cesare can get a good night’s sleep. I feel so guilty when he gets up with me in the night.’ Lucrezia shook her head sadly and looked sheepish. ‘He has to go into work, while I get to sleep in.’

‘Did you have another nightmare, sweetie?’ Charlotte tipped her head to one side in sympathy, and Lucrezia nodded, allowing her eyes to glaze with tears.

‘I just hope this works, Charley. I get so….’ Lucrezia regarded Charlotte and one tear slid down her cheek as she dropped her voice to a barely audible whisper, ‘afraid.’

Charlotte made a wryly sympathetic face and continued up the stairs with the picture, and Lucrezia followed silently. As they got to the top, Charlotte stopped and gazed at Lucrezia, brows raised.

‘Which is your room, sweetie?’ Lucrezia visibly shook off her melancholy and smiled brightly.

‘To the right, Charley. My room is at the end. It is the corner room, and has two windows. It’s great.’ Lucrezia danced in front of Charlotte and led the way to the large door at the end of the gallery, thrusting it open so Charlotte could carry the picture through and rest it on the floor. She straightened and looked round appreciatively.

‘Oh, Lucrezia. It’s so beautiful. And the views are amazing.’ Charlotte moved to the window which had the front aspect. It was hung with diaphanous ivory fabric, which billowed gently in the breeze from the open sash window, and looked out onto the gravel drive and garage block. The other window on the right hand wall displayed a vista of dense woodland. In the distance could be seen the sunlight glinting on the ocean.

Lucrezia sat on the bed and started opening the cardboard boxes, lifting the snow globe and the diorama carefully from their Styrofoam packaging and setting them carefully on the night stand. She smiled across at Charlotte who was looking round the room, seeing the furniture just as Lucrezia had described, in the French style with crackle glazed finishes and snowy white drapes and pelmets trimmed with broderie anglais lace. Huge throw pillows decorated the bed, and the matching comforter and canopy echoed the rest of the room, spotlessly white and lace trimmed.

Vannozza appeared at the door, closely followed by Bert, hammer in one hand and picture hooks in the other. She smiled at Charley and then looked at Lucrezia questioningly.

‘Where are we hanging your picture, sweetie? Opposite your bed?’ Lucrezia nodded happily and Bert tore the packaging paper from the painting to reveal the hanging wire already in place.

‘We always make sure they are ready to hang,’ explained Charlotte as the manservant took a tape measure from his apron pocket and measured the wall. He made a small mark with pencil in the centre and then measured downwards from the ceiling, forming a cross. The three women watched in fascination as he took a large flat hook and two small nails from the same pocket and tapped them into position, then reached for the picture, turning it slightly so the wire located onto the base of the plate. Stepping back, he adjusted the edge of the picture to make it hang straight, then replaced his hammer in the pocket of his apron. Lucrezia sprang off the bed and flung her arms around the elderly man’s neck, kissing his cheek.

‘Thank you, Bert. It looks amazing. How did you know how to do that? You are so clever.’ Lucrezia’s grateful words tumbled out in a rush and Bert looked at her and smiled.

‘You learn things, Miss Lucrezia. Hang a picture wrong once and you do it right next time. Now, where would you like your dreamcatcher?’ Lucrezia led him across to the window facing the woodland and pointed to the centre of the frame. Taking out a bradawl, Bert made a small hole and then screwed into the wood a tiny silver hook taken from his apron pocket. Lucrezia passed him the dreamcatcher and he slipped the wire over the hook, allowing the ornament to fall freely in front of the window pane. Lucrezia kissed his cheek again and the man ducked his head shyly.

‘Thank you, Bert.’ Vannozza nodded as the older man left the room, then she stood with her hands on her hips, gazing at the picture doubtfully.

‘Sweetie, don’t you thinks it’s a bit dark?’

‘Momma, it’s beautiful. The colours fit so well into this lovely room you chose for me, and the greens and yellows are perfect against all this white.’ Lucrezia swept her hand round the room, beaming. Vannozza shook her head again.

‘I meant the subject, sweetie. The storm. It’s a little dark for a young girl’s room, don’t you agree, Charlotte?’

Charlotte shrugged and laughed uncomfortably. ‘Lucrezia fell in love with it because she said she thought the storm had passed. The sun is coming out through the clouds, bringing the sunlight back.’ Lucrezia nodded in agreement, moving over to the night stand where the ornaments were.

Vannozza still looked doubtful. ‘Well, if that’s what you see, sweetie, I suppose art is very subjective. I see the storm gathering, not passing over.’

Lucrezia shrugged and smiled brightly, and Vannozza moved towards the door, hand on the knob. ‘I’ll go and ask Betsy to make iced tea, shall I? Then when you have finished, you can join me on the terrace.’ Lucrezia nodded agreeably and Charlotte smiled gratefully as Vannozza left the room.

‘Where are you going to put your mermaid, sweetie? She looks so like you, you know. I wonder if the artist saw you in town at some point, and your face stayed with him?’ Lucrezia ducked her head as if embarrassed, and peered through the glass dome of the diorama at the savage-looking dragon. Charlotte laughed.

‘You shouldn’t put that where you can see it, you know. You will have more nightmares. It is the mermaid you need to see before you sleep.’ Charlotte held the snow globe carefully and Lucrezia snorted a small laugh.

‘The dragon will protect me, Charley. He will sit on my nightstand and protect me.’ Lucrezia placed the diorama carefully so she could see it from the bed when she was lying down. ‘And I bought the mermaid for Cesare’s room, because it looks like me.’

Charlotte blinked at Lucrezia in astonishment, and looked back at the snow globe with a puzzled expression on her face. Lucrezia leapt from the bed suddenly.

‘Come on, Charley. We’ll put it in his room for him and then go get some iced tea with Momma.’ Lucrezia opened the door in the wall and walked through the shared bathroom and into Cesare’s bedroom. Charlotte followed closely behind in bewildered silence.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Charlotte stepped over the threshold of Cesare’s bedroom as if she had no right to be there. Lucrezia watched her face carefully and saw she was trying to take in the furnishings without seeming to look round. Lucrezia bounced on the bed and gave Charlotte a conspiratorial look.

‘I’ll stand here and you set the snow globe where I can best see it.’ she said brightly, beaming her brightest smile as Charlotte looked round doubtfully.

‘I don’t think Cesare would want us in his bedroom, sweetie. Let’s just put it down and go join your Mom, shall we?.’ Charlotte put the globe down on the shelf beneath the TV.

‘No, not there. I know he watches his TV a lot, but I don’t want the mermaid underneath it,’ Lucrezia dropped her voice to a hiss, ‘especially when he’s watching porn!’ Charlotte straightened and blinked in embarrassment, a flush creeping up her cheek. Lucrezia laughed delightedly and shook her head.

‘Charley, don’t be embarrassed. I come in here all the time, and I promise he never minds. Isn’t it a lovely room? It only has one window, though,’ she wrinkled her nose, ‘but Momma’s decorator did a real good job, don’t you think?’ Lucrezia suppressed a smile as Charlotte dared to look round the room. The walls were papered in metallic silver, which reflected the light from the window, draped as it was in shades of grey and pewter. The furniture was black lacquered Oriental style, and the bedding was burgundy with grey and silver accents. Over the bed, hung horizontally, was a huge Samurai sword, its silken tassels hanging down in black and silver swags.

‘Cesare is into swords. Did you know? He has quite a collection, but because the decorator chose an Oriental theme, the Samurai works best in here. Personally I like the replica of Excalibur we have in the dining room – all those jewels and gold leaf – but that one looks cool in here.’

Charlotte nodded wordlessly, continuing to gaze round the room in astonishment as Lucrezia chattered on.   Abruptly, Lucrezia bounced off the bed and took the snow globe from where Charlotte had left it.

‘It will go here, at the side of his reading lamp. That way, when he puts out his light before he sleeps, the last thing he will see is the mermaid.’ She shrugged happily, put the globe down and then tugged on Charlotte’s hand. ‘Come on, Charley. Let’s go see if Betsy has made any cookies to go with the iced tea.’

Charlotte allowed herself to be led downstairs by Lucrezia, and Vannozza poured her some tea and indicated a chair for her to sit. Lucrezia dropped into a chair by her side and immediately put her feet on the seat, folding herself virtually in half. Her mother sighed.

‘Sweetie, sit properly, please. You are a young lady now.’

‘Sorry, Momma.’ Lucrezia beamed at her mother and took a cookie from the plate. Vannozza graciously passed the plate to Charlotte, who took one then broke it in half on her plate.

‘What are you studying, my dear? Cesare tells us he knows you from college, but he is doing his MBA so you can’t have any classes together; you’re too young.’

Charlotte laughed, ‘I’m not that young, Mrs Borgia. I am in my last year, studying Economics and Politics. I transferred in because Professor Amboise teaches Politics here, and I really wanted my final year to be taught by him.’ She shrugged, and then laughed at the eye roll she saw Lucrezia give when she spoke about politics. Vannozza smiled.

‘Yes, Cesare spoke about the Professor too. But now he is doing his Masters, it obviously had to be in Economics.’

‘What does Cesare want to do, Mrs Borgia? I know what he is studying, but I never thought to ask what his career goal is.’ Lucrezia spoke round a mouthful of cookie.

‘He works for Daddy, and will take over the whole business one day.’ Charlotte’s brows rose.

‘Really? I hadn’t realised Cesare wanted to take over his father’s business.’

Lucrezia nodded sagely, ‘He wants to build the global arm of the business more. Daddy is very much interested in the domestic market, but Cesare’s ambition is to expand.’ She snorted a laugh, ‘To take over the world.’

‘That would explain the politics then,’ said Charlotte, sipping her iced tea and looking out over the garden. ‘You have a wonderful home here, Mrs Borgia. It is beautiful.’

‘Thank you, my dear. We like living here, don’t we Lucrezia? It is close to my husband’s place of work, and it means that both my children have been educated locally. Lucrezia will go to the same college when she finishes high school.’ Lucrezia pulled a wry face at her mother’s words. Suddenly their attention was taken by the sound of a car pulling round from the front of the house. Lucrezia scrambled out of her chair to see whose car it was, then dropped back down.

‘It’s Mick coming home. Cesare must be on his way soon.’ Charlotte looked at her in surprise.

‘Does Mick live here too?’ Vannozza smiled airily and huffed a laugh.

‘He lives in the guest house apartment at the other side of the pool. He is my husband’s nephew, and works for the company too. Didn’t you know?’

‘No, I….I had no idea. I just thought he was Cesare’s friend. Perhaps from school, when they were young?’

Lucrezia snorted a giggle. ‘You thought he was poor, because of how he speaks and what he drives.’

‘No, I just…. He’s so ……. I don’t know what I thought. I just thought he was a family friend.’

‘He is. He’s a very good friend to our family, not just Cesare. All of us.’

Charlotte looked at Lucrezia carefully, and then Lucrezia gave a huge grin, which lit up her whole face with delight.

‘Cesare’s car.’ She leaped out of her chair and hurried across the terrace, skipping down the shallow steps and then crunching quickly over the gravel as Cesare’s car pulled to a halt behind Mick’s truck.

He switched off the engine and opened the car door, unfolding himself from the driver’s seat as Lucrezia leapt into his arms and he rocked back on his heels at the unexpectedness of her greeting.

‘Hey, Baby.’

 


	7. Chapter 7

‘Cesare, Charley’s here. Come and have some iced tea.’ After her bear-hug of a greeting, Lucrezia slid from Cesare’s embrace and tugged on his hand, leading him towards the terrace. Cesare dropped a kiss on top of his mother’s hair.

‘Hey Mom.’ Smiling, Vannozza looked up and patted the hand Cesare had placed on her shoulder.

‘Darling, sit down and have some tea.’ Vannozza turned over another tall glass, adding ice and a sprig of mint as she poured the amber liquid from the huge jug on the table, ‘ Charlotte has been telling us about her studies.’ Cesare dropped his elegant frame into the vacant chair between Charlotte and Lucrezia. He picked up Charlotte’s hand and kissed it, making a slight flush creep up her neck. Lucrezia bit savagely into another cookie, and with a mouthful of crumbs, spoke.

‘And she wants us to go out.’

Cesare swivelled round to look at Lucrezia, and at the same time as his mother started to speak, said, ‘What?’

‘Where?’ asked Vannozza.

Charlotte blushed and took a breath to answer, but Lucrezia beat her to it, grinning at Cesare.

‘You and Mick and me and her. To a restaurant,’ she looked across at Vannozza and opened her eyes really wide, tilting her head, ‘Can I Momma? Please?’

‘Well, I’m not sure your father would……,’ Vannozza began, obviously confused at the sudden question. Lucrezia allowed a sheen of tears to fill her eyes, and tempered her voice into a breathless plea, making sure it wasn’t a whine.

‘Oh Momma, please,’ she blinked beseechingly at her mother, ‘I will be with Mick and Cesare, and we are only going for a meal. I promise I won’t so much as sniff the wine cork.’

Vannozza smiled her gentle smile at her daughter, contemplating the clear blue gaze of Lucrezia’s huge eyes.

‘Well, sweetheart, if Cesare’s sure he doesn’t mind?’ Vannozza turned her smile on her son, who was twining his fingers with Charlotte’s carelessly. He shrugged and nodded.

‘It’s okay by me, Mom, if Mick is willing to come, and Charlotte doesn’t mind.’ Charlotte smiled back at Vannozza and shook her head.

‘No, Mrs Borgia. I’m happy to have made a friend of Lucrezia. I think it would be fun.’ Lucrezia was squirming excitedly in the chair, waiting for Vannozza’s answer.

‘Very well. But, Cesare, you go to a reputable restaurant. And you have Bert take you in the town car, and you call when you want him to pick you up afterwards.’ Cesare nodded his head in agreement and Lucrezia jumped up to fling her arms round her mother in gratitude. Cesare regarded Charlotte and raised his brows enquiringly.

‘How come you are here, Charlotte? I didn’t expect to see you this afternoon.’

‘Charley brought me the stuff I bought at her gallery.’ Lucrezia came round the table and grasped Cesare’s hand, trying to pull him to his feet. ‘Come on, come and look at my beautiful painting, and my dreamcatcher.’ She laughed prettily, ‘You might get a good night’s sleep tonight.’

Cesare huffed a doubtful laugh, but stood up as his sister so obviously wanted him to. Charlotte stood as well, and turned to say her goodbye to Vannozza as Lucrezia continued to chatter on.

‘And I got you something too, Cesare. Charley put it in your room.’ Cesare glanced at Charlotte and smiled at her sudden blush, but Lucrezia smirked inwardly at the raised eyebrow and sharp look her words had drawn from Vannozza towards Charlotte.

‘I only carried it in, honestly. And I really must go, before Josh loses all our customers by ignoring them. Thank you so much for the tea, Mrs Borgia. Cesare, I’ll call you.’ Charlotte hurriedly stood up and almost raced over the gravel to the van, while Lucrezia pulled Cesare towards the house.

He nodded at Charlotte as she spoke, and then turned his attention to his sister, laughing at her insistence as their mother smothered a smile and poured herself some more tea.

***

‘Don’t you think it’s beautiful, Cesare?’

‘She looks like you, Baby so, yeah, of course I think she’s beautiful.’ Lucrezia beamed at his words and pulled on his hand towards her room through their shared bathroom.

‘Come and look at my painting, Cesare. Momma doesn’t like it, but I think it’s astonishing.’ Cesare smiled and allowed himself to be hustled along.

‘Oh, wow! Oh, Baby, that’s so incredibly cool.’ Cesare gazed in awe at the painting, and Lucrezia squirmed in pleasure that he liked it.

‘What do you see, Cesare? Tell me what it says to you.’ Lucrezia mirrored her brother’s gaze. He thought for a while as he looked carefully at the picture.

‘I see the heavens parting and the sea whipping up just before Zeus reaches down through the clouds. The yellow in the heavens is a reflection of the lightning bolts in his hand.’ Cesare chuckled at his interpretation, ‘But I guess that isn’t what you see, Baby?’

She shook her head and shrugged. ‘I see something different every time I look at it,’ she giggled and jumped on her bed, ‘but I really chose it because the colours matched the room, and I knew Momma would _hate_ it.’

***

Lucrezia spent hours choosing what to wear for the meal at the restaurant. She had a specific ‘look’ in mind, and it took her quite a while to find just the right dress. The one she chose was dark rose pink, with a square neck, broad straps and a full skirt in polished cotton sateen. Cut high at the front, the back had a keyhole from her shoulder blades to her waist; nothing immodest, she looked like the kid sister dressed for a garden party. She wore only mascara to darken her abundant lashes and a little rose pink lip gloss, with her hair in a high pony tail and just a few wisps of curls framing her face. She looked young. That was the plan.

‘Hey, Mick.’ Lucrezia beamed as Mick walked into the hallway where she was waiting for Cesare to come downstairs and for Bert to bring the car around.

‘Hey.’ Mick nodded at her.

‘You look nice, Mick.’ Lucrezia smiled at her tall red-headed cousin, dressed in a green Ralph Lauren polo shirt and dark pants, with a Breitling watch fastened round his wrist. ‘That colour green suits you.’ Mick ducked his head in embarrassment.

‘Thanks.’ He looked up the stairs as he heard a door close, and Cesare strode along the landing and down the sweeping staircase.

Lucrezia carefully kept her expression open and pleasant, a small smile on her lips as she fiddled with the chains of her shoulder bag. Inside, her stomach had turned over and was now knotting as she watched her brother stride down the stairs. His hair was still slightly damp from the shower, but was twisting itself into its usual spirals round his face and almost to his shoulders; the despair of their father, who thought his son should have a more conventional haircut. Lucrezia didn’t, couldn’t agree.

Cesare’s long legs were encased in narrow indigo jeans that hugged the muscles in his thighs and clung closely to the line of his buttocks. Teamed with this he wore a plain black cashmere pullover , the silk glowing as it moved with his lean body, and she could see glinting at his throat the white gold chain she had given him when he graduated.

‘Hey, Baby. That dress looks great on you.’ Lucrezia dimpled at him and drew an appreciative breath of his Armani Gio cologne as he put his arm round her waist. Cesare nodded a greeting at Mick and looked around.

‘Where’s Mom?’

‘Here, darling,’ Vannozza walked into the hall from the living room just as Bert entered through the front door and held it open. The town car was parked in front of the steps.

‘You didn’t think I’d let you go out without saying goodbye.’ She lifted her cheek for his kiss and then presented Mick with the other, to which Mick pressed his lips briefly. She smiled at Lucrezia and kissed her gently.

‘You look lovely, sweetheart. Be a good girl, won’t you.’ Lucrezia rolled her eyes and laughed.

‘Momma, I’m sixteen, not six. We’re only going out for a meal, to a restaurant I’ve been to a thousand times, with my big brother and my big cousin. I’ll be _fine_.’

Vannozza looked at Cesare and raised one eyebrow, ‘Don’t forget to call Bert when you’re ready to come home.’

‘I won’t forget, Mom. I promise.’ Cesare sighed, then nodded to Lucrezia and Mick. ‘Come on, you two. We have to go pick Charlotte up and the table’s booked for 7 o’clock.’

‘Bye, Momma,’ Lucrezia sketched a wave before she skipped through the front door to clutch Cesare’s arm and Bert closed the door behind them.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Charlotte fluffed up her hair and shot a look through the mirror at Lucrezia, who was renewing her pale pink lip gloss.   They were in the ladies room in the restaurant, taking a moment before their dessert was served.

‘It isn’t Cesare at all, sweetie. It’s Mick, isn’t it?’ Charlotte replaced her brush in her clutch and took out her lipstick, carefully spiralling up the tip. She leant forward and applied it, delicately pouting at her reflection, brows drawn downward. Lucrezia kept her gaze studiously blank and innocent as Charlotte gave vent to her irritation.

‘I thought Cesare was deferring to Mick, agreeing to cut our dates short to meet him, or bringing him along. That’s why I wanted you here, but it’s Mick, whispering and muttering all night.’

‘It’s the way he always talks, Charley. He isn’t whispering or muttering.’

‘Well, he barely says two words out loud I can understand, yet in Cesare’s ear he never shuts up. Except when he speaks to you. Can’t you distract him? Get cosy with him?’

‘Charley, eew! He’s my cousin. It would be so wrong.’ Lucrezia tightened her pink scrunchie around her pony tail and shrugged, wide-eyed, ‘Mick wouldn’t go along with it anyway. He sees me as a kid sister, like Cesare does.’ She smiled happily at Charlotte and shrugged again. Charlotte peered carefully at her reflection then gave Lucrezia a meaningful look.

‘Well, I want to be alone with Cesare for a while. Could you and Mick go for a stroll, after we eat? Please, sweetie? Just for a while. We could walk for a while, and you and Mick could go in a different direction? Please, sweetie, I’m relying on you.’

Lucrezia looked at Charlotte’s determined mouth and raised eyebrow, and she sighed theatrically.

‘I’ll do my best, Charley. But I can’t guarantee anything. I’m just a kid, remember.’

The contrast between the two girls couldn’t be more apparent. Lucrezia in her rose pink appeared wholesomely sweet and innocent, whilst Charlotte had chosen a midnight blue sheath, cut high at the front but plunging at the back almost down to the base of her spine. With it she had chosen red high heels and a red clutch, with lipstick to match. In truth the colours made her look older than Cesare, and as if she were making much too much effort for a simple double-date.

Lucrezia knew Cesare had been taken aback by Charlotte’s vampish outfit when they had picked her up from her apartment block. His mouth had twisted wryly and Mick had whistled softly through his teeth as Charlotte had turned to lock the door behind her, giving them the full benefit of the expanse of exposed flesh. Lucrezia had wished she were chewing gum; the pop of a bubble at that point would have been perfect.

Charlotte teetered back to their table on her high heels, and Lucrezia followed easily behind on her ballet flats, a good six inches smaller than Charlotte. Cesare stood as they got to the table and pulled Lucrezia’s chair out for her, then Charlotte’s. Charlotte threw her a dismissive look and imperceptibly titled her head towards Mick; Lucrezia got the message.

‘Can we go for a walk after our dessert, Mick?’ she whispered. ‘I think we’ve been third wheels long enough.’

‘Okay,’ shrugged Mick, slicing a piece of cheese and placing it on a cracker.

‘Cesare, could we take a short promenade after our meal? Not too far, because of my heels, but just up the block to gaze at the ocean. Before you ring for the car. I know we mustn’t get Lucrezia home too late.’

‘Of course, if you’re sure your feet will stand it. But I need to have a word with Mick about the markets first.’ Cesare appeared to miss the impatient look that crossed Charlotte’s face as he tilted his chair towards Mick and muttered quietly. Mick glanced at his watch and nodded, taking out his cell phone. He stood up and walked to the side of the restaurant, speaking quietly into the phone. Cesare watched him carefully, then seeing Mick’s thumbs up signal, he rose from the table as both girls finished their sundaes.

‘Ladies, shall we?’ Cesare pulled out their chairs and they all made their way to the door.

‘Charlotte wants to view the ocean in the moonlight. Will you look after Lucrezia for me for ten minutes, Mick?’

‘Sure.’

Lucrezia stood in front of Cesare and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek, as he bent his head to kiss hers, and the corner of their mouths met unexpectedly. The kiss was brief and Lucrezia grinned up at Cesare’s discomposure.

‘Come back soon.’

Charlotte threaded her arm though Cesare’s and pulled him away towards the small boardwalk at the end of the block. Her excited words were lost on the breeze, and Lucrezia looked up at Mick and shrugged.

‘He still likes her, Mick.’

‘Mmm,’ came the laconic reply, as Mick watched them walk away, ‘that he does. But nowhere near as much as she likes him.’ Lucrezia’s eyes widened at her cousin’s words.

‘Really? You can tell that? How do you know?’ Her breathless questions made Mick’s lips twitch in what might almost have been a smile.

‘Cesare enjoys the chase. The way she’s glommed onto him this soon, he’s gonna lose interest real quick.’

‘Charley thinks that _you’re_ the problem, Mick. That you’re the one that’s keeping them apart.’

Mick snorted derisively.

‘Then she might think you’re _her_ friend, Lucrezia, but she doesn’t know you very well, does she?’

‘No, Mick,’ whispered Lucrezia, ‘she doesn’t know either of us very well.’


	9. Chapter 9

Eventually, the clip clop of Charlotte’s heels on the sidewalk heralded their return. Mick was leaning negligently against the wall of the restaurant checking the market prices on his iphone while Lucrezia played a game of Candy Crush on hers. Suddenly Lucrezia rushed to the edge of the curb and began to vomit into the gutter. Astounded, Mick pushed himself off the wall and began to rub Lucrezia’s back in sympathy as they both heard Cesare’s running footsteps.

‘Baby, what’s wrong? What happened?’ Cesare looked at Mick wildly as Lucrezia continued to retch. Mick raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

‘It was real sudden, Cesare. Honest.’

Charlotte eventually reached them on her heels and stared at Lucrezia, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

‘Sweetie, why didn’t you say you felt ill?’

Lucrezia pulled a tissue from her bag and wiped her mouth, then mopped her eyes, glancing at Charlotte through her tears and seeing a faint reddening of the skin on Charlotte’s jaw from Cesare’s beard. Unclenching her teeth, she answered with a sob in her voice.

‘I didn’t want to spoil your time alone with Cesare, Charley. You told me you wanted him to yourself for a while and so I….’ Lucrezia allowed more tears to fall, and let emotion clog her throat. Before Cesare clutched her to his chest, she caught his hard glance at Charlotte and her not wanting to meet his eyes. Lucrezia hid her face in her brother’s cashmere sweater, breathing in his fragrance and shuddering out her breath.

‘Baby, you should have said. We could have taken you home. It wouldn’t have mattered.’ Cesare smoothed her hair back and felt her hot forehead. ‘You feel clammy and overwarm, Baby. We need to take care of you’

Mick held up his phone, ‘Already called Bert and he’s two minutes away.’ Cesare nodded his gratitude, then keeping a firm arm round Lucrezia, took Charlotte’s hand briefly.

‘We’ll drop you first, Charlotte. I need to get Lucrezia back home to Mom,’ he slid her a sideways look and a brief smile, ‘and a rain check on, you know? Okay?’

Lucrezia, peeping up through her lashes as Cesare hugged her to him, saw Charlotte’s mouth tighten and then hide her irritation with a concerned smile towards Lucrezia.

‘Of course, Cesare. That’s not a problem. And I hope you feel better soon, sweetie,’ she patted Lucrezia on the arm encircling Cesare’s waist just as the town car swept to a silent halt.

Mick opened the door and Cesare helped Lucrezia enter, then got in himself and made Lucrezia stretch out on the back seat with her head in his lap so he could stroke her forehead. Charlotte sat rigidly in the seat opposite and Mick sat up front with Bert. Lucrezia smothered a smile at Charlotte’s poorly-concealed irritation and fumbled in her bag for another tissue as tears escaped her eyes and dripped onto Cesare’s jeans.

‘Hush, Baby. Don’t cry. It’s fine.’ Cesare whispered soothing words to his sister and caressed her face, trying to make a ruefully sympathetic gesture towards Charlotte.

‘Mom would kill me if we didn’t take her home, Charlotte,’ he shrugged helplessly, and Charlotte’s face cleared as she sat forward briefly and touched his arm. The car pulled up outside her home.

‘Don’t worry about it, Cesare. Lucrezia comes first, obviously. I’ll see you tomorrow, yes?’ She locked eyes with him and he nodded briefly, then she gazed at Lucrezia and managed a smile.

‘Hope you feel better, sweetie, and I’ll see you soon too.’ Bert opened the door and Charlotte gathered her bag and stepped out elegantly. Bert closed the door quietly and those in the car heard the clip clop of Charlotte’s heels as she walked away. The car started and then sped forward, returning to the Borgia house. It seemed only a few minutes afterwards that they pulled into their drive and came to a stop.

Cesare got out of the car and helped Lucrezia to stand, then he swept her up into his arms and carried her towards the door, Mick going ahead to open it for them. Once inside, Mick bade them goodnight and walked round to his own apartment beyond the pool.

Vannozza hurried from the living room and gasped when she saw Cesare carrying Lucrezia.

‘What happened?’ she gasped, hand at her throat.

‘She puked, Mom. I don’t know if it’s a virus or something she ate, but she’s really sick. I’ll take her up.’ Cesare strode up the stairs two at a time, Lucrezia weightless in his arms, and he placed her carefully on her coverlet as Vannozza followed him into the room.

‘You help her into bed Mom, and I’ll get her a drink.’ Cesare went swiftly into the bathroom and Vannozza helped Lucrezia out of the pink dress and took down her hair.

‘I’ll be okay, Momma. I was fine, talking to Mick and playing on my phone until Cesare came back, and then I just felt ….’

‘Came back from where, sweetie?’ Lucrezia tipped her hair forward as she settled herself against the pillows to hide a smile.

‘From looking at the ocean with Charlotte.’

Vannozza shot Cesare a hard look as he came into the room with a glass full of water tinkling with ice, and a damp wash cloth in his hand. He placed the drink next to the dragon on Lucrezia’s night stand, then folded the cloth and draped it over her forehead. Lucrezia lay back on her pillows and smiled a small, tremulous smile.

‘If you hadn’t come back, Cesare, I don’t know what I would have done. Mick was kind, but I’m so glad you were there.’ Cesare wiped her hot cheeks gently with the cool cloth and then refolded it onto her forehead. He picked her hand up and kissed it.

‘I’ll always be there, Baby.’

 


	10. Chapter 10

Lucrezia lay on a recliner by the pool, with her hair twisted up into a huge straw hat and her eyes concealed by sunglasses. Earbuds connected to her phone were in her ears and on the low table at her side was some fresh lemonade in a tall glass with a straw. Clad in a high-legged yet still modest black swimsuit, she stretched out her feet towards the water, admiring her pink tipped toes as she wriggled them in pleasure. Hearing footsteps on the terrace above her, she turned her head slightly to see Betsy bringing Charley down the steps towards the pool. Lucrezia dropped the sunglasses down her nose slightly and smiled at her guest, removing her earbuds.

‘Hi, Charley. This is a surprise. Shouldn’t you be in class today?’

‘I’m just on my way, sweetie. My class starts at eleven, so I can’t stay long. I just wanted to bring you some flowers and make sure you’re okay.’ Lucrezia took the small bunch of gerbera, freesias and babies’ breath and sniffed appreciatively.

‘Oh, thank you, Charley. You are so sweet to me, after I spoiled your evening.’

‘Don’t be silly, sweetie. We had a great time.’ Her smile drifted into dreamy as she remembered, and Lucrezia narrowed her eyes behind her sunglasses. She reached for her drink and knocked the glass, spilling some on the tiles and splashing Charlotte’s sandal-clad feet.

‘Oh, Charley, I’m so sorry. My depth perception seems a bit off this morning. After effects of an empty stomach, I expect.’ Charlotte rummaged in her bag for a wet wipe to blot the sticky liquid from her skin, and Lucrezia waved to Betsy.

‘Would you like Betsy to make you a drink, Charley? Bring you a wet cloth?’

‘No, I’m fine. And I can’t stay. I just wondered if you and Mick would like to come to the movies with us? No pressure, sweetie. Just a thought. There’s a couple of movies opening this weekend so you can choose.’

‘That sounds lovely, Charley. I’ll ask Mick if he wants to come, shall I?’ Charlotte’s mouth compressed into a flat line before she gave a bright smile and jumped to her feet. Bending, she ducked under Lucrezia’s hat to kiss her cheek.

‘That would be great, sweetie. I’ll see Cesare on campus this afternoon, so I’ll mention it to him then and get something organised for when you feel better.’ Charlotte stood to the side as Betsy brought Lucrezia a fresh drink. Lucrezia popped the straw in her mouth and had a long swallow.

‘Great. I’ll tell Mick when I see him. Bye, Charley.’ Lucrezia sketched a wave as Charlotte followed Betsy up the steps towards the drive.

***

Lucrezia was still relaxing by the pool, scrolling through movie theatres, when she saw Mick coming towards her from his apartment. She looked up at him, removing her sunglasses, and smiled.

‘Hey Mick,’ she beamed, ‘Come sit with me a minute.’ She swept her hand towards the lounger by her side, and Mick sat down gingerly on the edge of the lounger to face her.

‘Hey Lucrezia.’ Mick jerked his head back in his customary greeting, then tilted it to invite her to speak. Lucrezia often thought Mick was the master of communicating without having to say anything.

‘Charley called this morning, on her way to class. She wants us all to go out again. To the movies? Whatcha think?’ Mick shrugged and then gazed out over the pool for a while. Lucrezia called this his thousand-yard stare. He looked back at her and shrugged again.

‘Okay,’ a long pause while he chose his next statement. Lucrezia was used to it, and it didn’t make her feel uncomfortable like it did some people. She heard him take a breath, ‘Not a chick flick though.’

‘No!’ Lucrezia shuddered, ‘The new Marvel one I thought. Plenty of action and eye candy for us all.’

Mick regarded her evenly and she waited patiently for his response.

‘Okay. But Lucrezia?’

Lucrezia looked back at him the same way, wondering what was coming.

‘Yes?’

‘You won’t stick your finger down your throat in the movie theatre, will you?’

Lucrezia looked at him, aghast. Then she gave a small smile and raised her brows.

‘You saw me?’

Lucrezia was surprised. She had thought herself unobserved, that Mick was absorbed by the scroll of numbers on his phone and had only noticed when she had made a noise.

‘Yep,’ another pause, another breath, ‘ _He_ didn’t though. He believed you.’

Lucrezia beamed at him.

‘Yes, Mick. He always does.’

***

A car engine distracted Lucrezia’s attention and she jumped up from her lounger, grabbing her wrap. Sliding her feet into her sandals, she raced up the steps and round to the side of the house, slowing to a nonchalant walk as she reached the corner.

Crunching over the gravel and wishing her sandals protected her feet from the tiny stones, she smiled and gave a hesitant wave to Cesare, unfolding himself from his car.

‘Hey, Baby. How are you feeling today?’ Cesare walked up and, ducking under Lucrezia’s hat, he kissed her cheek gently.

‘I’m fine, Cesare.’ Lucrezia picked her way over the gravel by her brother’s side as he strolled towards the pool. ‘Momma and Betsy have looked after me, and Charley stopped by to bring me some flowers so I had a chance to apologize.’ Cesare dropped into a metal chair set in front of a bistro table and nodded at Mick, who rose from the lounger and joined his friend.

‘You had nothing to apologise for, Baby. You were sick. Charlotte understood, I’m sure.’

‘Well, I’m still sorry. She asked us to the movies, me and Mick. Did you see her today?’ Cesare nodded absently, as he listened to Mick whispering in his ear while Lucrezia spoke. She jumped up from her lounger.

‘I thought we’d go and see the new Marvel film. But now I want a swim. My stomach has felt wobbly all day, but a swim will help, I’m sure.’ Lucrezia slid her eyes towards Cesare, still listening to Mick’s muttered whispers, and snagged his attention.

Smiling brightly at her brother, she undid her wrap and dropped it on the floor at her feet. She removed her sunglasses and tossed them on the pile too. Cesare laughed at her careless disregard for her things and shook his head at her.

Maintaining eye contact, she reached up with one hand and carefully removed the huge straw hat she had been wearing. She had piled her hair up inside without using any clips, so as she took it off, the whole honey-coloured mass of curls fell around her, shrouding her in a web of glistening filaments. As Cesare’s eyes widened in surprise, she dimpled at him and then executed an elegant dive into the pool, delighted with his reaction.

Under the water, she observed the shifting figures of the two men on the terrace. Mick, in a light shirt, remained seated but after she had stayed submerged for several moments, Cesare, clad in his customary black moved to the side of the pool. She watched as he walked up and then down, and she could hear his voice, muffled by the water as he called her name. She waited just a little longer, then when she saw him bend as if to remove his shoes, she leaped up from the bottom of the pool, causing a huge splash of water in her wake.

Pushing her hair back, she laughed across at her brother, who also laughed and shook his head at her. But he couldn’t disguise the anxiety in his eyes, or the heaving of his chest as he tried to quiet his breathing. Lucrezia began to swim at a leisurely pace up and down the pool, while Cesare monitored her carefully as he listened to Mick speaking quietly in his ear once more.  

 


	11. Chapter 11

‘Can we go for a burger after the movie, Cesare?’ Lucrezia walked by Mick’s side behind her brother and Charlotte as they came out of the movie theatre. ‘Before you ring Bert for the car?’

‘Sure, Baby. If that’s what you want. Are you sure? A burger? Really?’

Lucrezia watched Charlotte as she clung to Cesare’s arm, entwining her fingers with his and putting her head on his shoulder. Lucrezia nodded firmly and they turned towards the burger bar, close by the cinema to serve hungry moviegoers. Mick slid his phone into his pocket and moved up to Cesare’s shoulder, murmuring in his ear again. Lucrezia saw Cesare nod once and then Mick dropped back and fished his phone out again. He leaned against the wall, pressing keys and scrolling while Cesare opened the restaurant door and ushered Charlotte and Lucrezia inside.

‘While we wait for Mick, I’m going to the ladies room. Are you coming, Charley?’ Lucrezia beamed in friendliness at the other girl, who peeled herself from Cesare and followed through the powder room door. Lucrezia gazed at her reflection and started to fluff her hair, swept on top of her head in a messy up-do, with golden curls cascading down the back of her head. Charlotte rummaged in her purse for her lipstick, shooting Lucrezia an irritated glance.

‘They are always muttering. It drives me crazy. We can be in the middle a conversation and Mick will come up behind him and whisper, then go away and play on his phone.’ She spread the red colour on her lips carefully and pressed them together, ‘Hell, they were even looking at the damned phone in the movie.’ Charlotte took out her bronzer and started applying a dusting to her cheeks. Lucrezia shrugged and found her lip balm.

‘They need to see the markets, Charley. Cesare still works for Daddy, even though he’s taking classes. They can’t afford to miss anything.’ Lucrezia smiled innocently and shrugged, while Charlotte found her brush and started dragging it through her poker-straight dark locks.

‘You said that before, sweetie. But what market do you mean?’ Lucrezia opened her eyes really wide and gave Charlotte her sweetest, most innocuous smile. Trying to sound unworldly and naïve, she whispered,

‘The stock markets, silly. That’s what they do. That’s Daddy’s business, and they both work there.’

‘What, Mick too?’ Charlotte’s incredulous tone irritated Lucrezia. She might love her brother, but Mick was her friend as well as her cousin and she felt a loyalty towards him.

‘Yes, he’s really clever.’ Charlotte rolled her eyes and snorted disbelievingly. Lucrezia struggled to keep her tone light and friendly. She really wanted to shove Charlotte’s face into the mirror but she pushed down the urge and smiled, trying to project breathless enthusiasm.

‘He is, Charley, truly he is.’ Lucrezia nodded her head and her curls bounced, ‘He’s a brilliant analyst, really brilliant. He’s got a … an….,’ she thought a moment for the right word, ‘an eidetic memory.’ Charlotte blinked.

‘A what? What’s that?’ Lucrezia pulled a ‘thinking’ face, sliding her eyes at Charlotte who was now repairing her mascara.

‘It’s like he sees things once, and then can remember every detail.’ She allowed herself to pause and then gasp, as if a light bulb had suddenly gone on above her head, ‘like a photograph! That’s why they are always muttering. Mick gets tips and stuff, and then he buys from the foreign markets, and sells at a profit.’ Charlotte looked at her in horror.

‘But sweetie, that’s illegal. It’s called insider trading.’ Lucrezia gave a negligent shrug.

‘Cesare wants to build his own business. Be away from Daddy. This way he can get the capital to start his own life. Mick helps, and makes a profit for himself in the process.’

‘But it’s illegal, sweetie. They could go to prison.’ Charlotte’s whisper was scandalised and Lucrezia frowned and shook her head.

‘You mustn’t say anything, Charley. Promise you won’t tell Cesare I told you. He’d go nuts.’

‘Well, I’ll have to think, sweetie.’ Charlotte’s mouth smiled, cat-like, and her eyes shone as Lucrezia attempted to avoid her triumphant gaze by scrutinising her own lashes in the mirror.

Charlotte continued, ‘But I have heard that a wife cannot be made to testify against her husband, so that might be a plan.’

Charlotte turned and opened the powder room door, and Lucrezia followed her out, making sure the expression on her face was bright and joyful. Her face did not, however, reflect the thoughts going on in her head.

***

Lucrezia turned her tablet off and pulled the earbuds from her ears. Hurling some of the throw pillows from her bed, she pulled her covers up and settled on her side, smiling as she caught sight of her dragon on the rocks, assailing the castle. Then she heard it. The sound. Turning onto her back, she listened for a moment to make sure it wasn’t just the sound of her own blood rushing through her head. There it was again. A breathy sound.

Porn! Cesare was watching porn again. But she thought Mick had gone back to his apartment. She slid out of bed and glanced through the window. Although she couldn’t see the guest house from her room, she could see the lights from it reflected in the pool, and sure enough the reflection was there.

Lucrezia giggled. Cesare sure would be surprised to be caught watching porn by himself. She heard the noise again, along with a higher pitched moan. No music though, and she knew that porn videos usually had awful music accompanying the moans and groans.

Eschewing footwear or a wrap to wear over the vest top and tap shorts that she wore to bed, Lucrezia moved silently over her carpet and through the bathroom, twisting the handle as quietly as she could and then sliding through the tiny gap she needed. She stood, transfixed.

On the bed was Cesare, beneath him Charlotte. Neither knew she was there and she made herself breathe as quietly as she could so she didn’t alert them to her presence. Silently, she admired Cesare’s long legs and lean torso, the muscles in his shoulders and backside flexing with his exertions. His dark hair fell over his eyes as he reached his hand down to clasp Charlotte’s buttock tightly, her legs clamped round his hips as he groaned and she sighed and Lucrezia watched in silence, eyes huge and lower lip caught between her teeth.

Cesare’s thrusts became quicker and Charlotte’s sighs and groans became louder. Suddenly Cesare let out another groan that was more than a sigh and pitched forward. With her heart pounding in her ears and a fluttering feeling in her belly that she couldn’t quite explain, Lucrezia put her hand on the door latch. Before she could sneak silently back into the bathroom, Lucrezia noticed something on the floor not quite covered by Charlotte’s skimpy underwear, carelessly tossed aside.

The mermaid snow globe.

Lucrezia silently hurried back to her bedroom, snatching all the covers off her bed. Then she messed up her hair and allowed tears to fall. She leaped into the centre of the mattress and let out a piercing scream.

**_‘Cesare!!!!’_ **

 


	12. Chapter 12

‘Jesus, Baby. What’s wrong?’

‘You died, Cesare. You drowned and I saw it. You tried to save me and you couldn’t hold on and you died.’

‘Baby, it was a dream, a nightmare. I’m here. I’m not dead. Touch me, I’m real.’

He wrapped his arms around her and she ran her hands over his biceps and shoulders before clasping them round his neck and burying her damp face against his naked chest.

She felt a giggle build inside at the speed with which he’d had to don his boxers before coming into her room, and she wondered if Charlotte was still naked in his bed waiting for him to return. She let a sob escape and shuddered a breath in. Cesare tightened his hold on her, whispering to her that everything was ok and that it had just been a nightmare.

‘Don’t leave me Cesare. Stay here tonight.’

‘Okay Baby. But I gotta go pee before I lay down, okay?’

She tightened her hold briefly but then gave a sad little nod.

‘Okay, but come right back, and leave the door open so I know you’re there.’

He nodded and disentangled himself from her, helping her lay down and picking up the discarded comforter with which to cocoon her body.

‘I’ll just be a minute, baby. Just hitting the head and retrieving my cell from my room, okay? I’ll be right back, and I’ll leave the light on.’

Lucrezia allowed herself a noisy sob and a shuddering breath before she whispered ‘’kay.’

She hid her face in the coverlet as he left the room, trying to stifle a giggle because “retrieving his cell” was obviously a ruse to get rid of Charlotte.

She heard the toilet flush and the water gushing into the sink, and she heard, beneath the noise of the water, Cesare whispering quickly. Then the water shut off and she clearly heard the connecting door open, then close as Cesare came back into her room via the bathroom. She kept her eyes closed as he climbed onto the bed, sliding his lean body down hers and putting his arm round her middle. She wriggled backwards so they were like spoons and put her hand over his. She had heard the hiss of the town car tires on the gravel beneath her window and the metallic clang of the electronic gates as they closed. She pretended to wake from a light doze and shuddered another breath.

‘Cesare?’

‘Yes, Baby.’

‘Promise you won’t die.’

He grasped her even closer and bent his head to whisper in her ear. She could faintly smell his Armani cologne and the shampoo he habitually used. She couldn’t smell Charlotte, for which she was thankful. She felt his lips brush her ear and she suppressed a shiver of longing and resisted the temptation to push her behind into his crotch.

‘I promise, Baby,' he crooned to her. 'I promise never to leave you.’

She nodded and deliberately made her voice sleepy, managing a huge yawn.

‘Cesare.’

‘Yes, Baby?’

‘I love you.’

‘I love you too, Baby. Now let’s get some sleep.’

***

When Lucrezia woke in the morning, the only thing to remind her that Cesare had been there was the indentation on the pillow and his faint fragrance on the sheets. She wrapped herself round and round in the sheet like a mummy and breathed in delightedly. Her door opened.

‘Good morning sweetheart. Did you have another bad dream?’

Vannozza entered carrying a breakfast tray with juice and cereal and toast. Lucrezia unfolded herself from the sheet and sat up into the pillows so her mother could place the tray on her lap.

‘Yeah, Momma. Did I disturb you?’ Vannozza smiled and pushed Lucrezia’s hair back from her forehead to check her temperature.

‘No, sweetie. I have to have a little help to sleep when your father is away on business, so I’m afraid I didn’t hear anything. I’m glad Cesare heard you though.’ Lucrezia bit down on a piece of toast and giggled.

‘I think I scared him, Momma. I screamed so loud.’ Lucrezia chewed slowly before taking a sip of orange juice. Vannozza moved around the room looping back the drapes and adjusting the voile hangings.

‘Well, he’s gotten up and gone to work this morning, so you can’t have disturbed him too badly.’ Lucrezia shook her head.

‘He’s gone to class this morning, til eleven. Then he’ll go into work.’ Vannozza huffed a laugh and stood looking at her daughter.

‘I’m glad you can remember, sweetheart. I can’t get used to his college finishing after your school.’ Lucrezia shrugged.

‘It’s only for a few classes now. He’ll finish completely soon. Charley’s classes are all done, so his can’t be far behind.’ Lucrezia drained her glass of orange juice and then moved the tray to the side.

‘Momma, do you want to go into town for lunch later? I need some stuff and Charley was talking about going to see a band play next week. I could do with something new to wear.’ Lucrezia knew she had a closet full of clothes, but she also knew her mother couldn’t resist an invitation to go shopping. She smiled brightly, eyes wide with enthusiasm and Vannozza caressed her cheek gently.

‘If that’s what you would like to do, sweetheart. I would like to call at the gallery to see if they have something for the orangerie. Perhaps Charlotte would like to have lunch too?’ Lucrezia nodded happily and opened her closet door to find something suitable to wear as Vannozza picked up her breakfast tray and went to the door.

‘Momma, after lunch and after Charlotte has gone back to work?’

‘Yes sweetheart?

‘Can we go for a walk along the boardwalk? Before Bert brings us home? Vannozza laughed.

‘Of course we can, sweetheart. We can give Bert our parcels and then we can walk as far as you want.’ Vannozza turned and left, and Lucrezia slipped into the bathroom and through into Cesare’s room. His bed was still tumbled, and the coverlet was half on the floor. She looked at the night stand quickly.

The snow globe was back, exactly where she had placed it. Cesare himself must have replaced it, because Lucrezia could see the maid hadn’t yet been in. It must have been Charlotte who had moved it, who had not wanted a reminder of Lucrezia as she took her brother to bed.

Lucrezia’s smile was grim as she returned to her own room to find an outfit to wear to have lunch.

***

‘Did you enjoy the movie you saw last weekend, Charlotte?’ Vannozza picked at her salad and raised her brows.

‘It was okay, Mrs Borgia. A little heavy on the CGI for my taste, I’m afraid. I like things a little more real.’ Charlotte sipped her water and smiled at Lucrezia. ‘But the eye candy was great, wasn’t it, sweetie?’

Lucrezia beamed at Charlotte and then leaned across as if to let her mother in on a secret, ‘Cesare and Mick thought we were both lusting after the guy who plays Thor, Momma.’ Vannozza smiled and shook her head in bewilderment as Lucrezia continued, ‘But I prefer that British guy who plays Loki.’

‘I don’t know who either of them are, sweetheart, but I’m sure they are both very good.’

Lucrezia rolled her eyes at Charlotte, who laughed and nodded at Vannozza.

‘They are very different, Mrs Borgia. Thor is all dumb muscle and Loki is all cheekbones and smart quips.’

‘Minds last longer than muscles, sweetheart,’ said Vannozza with a wise nod of her head that set both girls giggling uncontrollably.

‘Thanks for that, Momma,’ snorted Lucrezia though her laughter, ‘I shall remember that.’

 


	13. Chapter 13

Vannozza and Lucrezia walked slowly along the boardwalk, gazing across at the waves lapping on the beach to the front of them, frothing and breaking hard over the struts of the small pier. Lucrezia smiled at her mother brightly.

‘This is lovely, Momma. Shopping and lunch and a nice walk.’ Vannozza smiled back.

‘We don’t do enough girly things together, sweetheart. And I’ve got to fly out to join your father for that benefit later. Will you be alright on your own tonight? I thought Charlotte said Cesare was taking her out for a meal.’

‘Yep. She said that, and I’ll be fine, Momma.’

‘Well, I might have a word with Mick. See if he can look in on you. I thought Charlotte made it clear he wasn’t going to be invited this time.’ Vannozza laughed and shook her head, and Lucrezia looked at her curiously.

‘Let’s just look over the edge of the pier, Momma. This way.’ Lucrezia took her mother’s arm and they walked down the short pier, watching the water tumble and bubble between the uprights. Vannozza slowed her steps and shook her head.

‘It doesn’t look safe to me round here, sweetheart. The timber seems to be very worn and broken in places. Mind you don’t catch your foot in some of the rotted parts; I don’t want you falling in.’

Lucrezia nodded solemnly and gazed with interest at the soft, mushy planks that were almost rotted through towards the very end of the pier. Going to the rail, she looked over into the roiling water, eddying and flowing with a strong current round the supports of the pier in complete contrast to the gentle lapping onto the shore just yards away. Vannozza joined her and looked down, shuddering and pulling Lucrezia away from the rail.

‘I must ask your father to phone the Town Council, sweetheart. That pier needs screening off before someone falls and has an accident. And did you see those broken staves of wood sticking out of the sand? Children might dive off there at high tide and impale themselves on one of those; they wouldn’t know they were there when the water was high.’

‘No, Momma. It sure looked nasty down there.’ Lucrezia gave a shiver and Vannozza hugged her waist.

‘Come along, sweetheart. We’ll go and get the car, and you can help me choose what to wear to the benefit. It’s for children with disabilities, so I don’t want to look too much like a fashion plate.’

‘Okay Momma. You should wear your navy Vera Wang. Those shoes you bought today will look wonderful, and if you sweep your hair into a twist, it will only take a minute when you get there.’ Lucrezia took her own hair and twisted it up to show Vannozza what she meant, tilting her head and sucking in her cheeks like a model to make her mother laugh.

***

Lucrezia curled up on the couch like a cat, with her legs tucked under her. She had helped her mother pack an overnight bag before she caught the flight that would take her to meet her husband for the benefit. Betsy had made a light meal for Lucrezia, who had then told both the housekeeper and Bert to take the evening for themselves. When they had gone to their own bungalow in the grounds near the gates, Lucrezia had filched a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured herself a generous measure. Mick entered the house from the terrace and she handed him a tumbler of her father’s best scotch.

They sipped their drinks and made companionable remarks for a while, and Mick helped himself to another four fingers of the amber spirit. Lucrezia poured herself another large glass of wine, which she found was quickly going to her head. She was really too young to drink, and wasn’t used to it, although her mother sometimes allowed her a small glass with dinner. She smiled at Mick, making sure her expression was open and friendly.

‘This is nice, Mick. We don’t often get much chance for a real talk, although you didn’t have to babysit me, you know.’ She took another swallow of her wine.

‘I know.’ He shrugged, ‘it’s no problem.’

‘Aren’t the markets open today? Tonight, I mean.’ She drank some more wine and looked across at Mick, sitting at the other end of the couch with his arm across the back and a leg crooked comfortably on the cushion. He shook his head.

‘Not for what we want. We get a night off, and we are slowing down anyway now.’ He gulped some whiskey.

‘Didn’t Cesare ask you to go with them?’

‘No, not tonight. They want to be alone so they can go back to her apartment.’ Mick gave a disgusted snort and muttered something into his glass Lucrezia didn’t catch. She frowned.

‘What did you just say?’

Mick regarded her with his pale blue gaze and shook his head, swallowing his scotch and pouring himself some more. He shrugged.

‘So he can bang her.’

Lucrezia’s mouth popped open into a round shape.

‘Oh.’

‘Yes, oh.’

Lucrezia looked at the man seated at the other end of the couch as he glowered into his glass. She could see the tight line of his mouth, as if he had said words he wished to take back. The wine gave Lucrezia courage.

‘Why do you say it like that?’ she asked wonderingly.  

Mick shook his head and gave her a look of such sympathy she blinked in surprise.

‘Because he really wants to bang you, and you wish that he would.’

‘What?’ Lucrezia tried to inject some horrified amazement into her tone, but Mick just gazed at her silently. She shrugged and they both took another swallow of their drinks. Lucrezia spoke first.

‘What makes you think that?’ Lucrezia couldn’t meet his eyes, so she studied the wine swirling in her glass as she breathed quietly and waited for his reply. Mick let out a heavy sigh.

‘Because guys talk, Lucrezia. And sometimes, when they have had too much to drink, they talk too much.’ He took another swallow, ‘Like tonight,’ and he saluted her with his glass. Lucrezia’s mouth quirked slightly as she struggled to find the words to ask her next question.

‘What about you, Mick? Who do you want to bang?’ He was silent for a long moment, twirling his glass in his hand and scrutinising the liquid within. He drained his glass again and poured another, and just when she thought he wouldn’t answer her at all, he fixed her with a direct look.

‘I would want both of you.’

Lucrezia gave a high pitched screech of astonishment in the back of her throat and stared at him.

His voice was clipped. ‘But I won’t do anything about it.’

Despite her surprise at his words, she was curious.

‘Why not?’ The question left her lips without thought, then she wondered if she really wanted the answer. Mentally she shrugged. She might as well know. Mick thought carefully before responding.

‘Because _he_ doesn’t go that way; he only wants you.’ He looked at her bleakly and she could see how much this confession was costing him. He took a ragged breath,

‘And you only want him.’ He snorted ruefully, ‘And I can’t deny him the opportunity to be your first, no matter how drunk you get. And when he’s had you, you wouldn’t betray him and neither would I.’

This speech was the longest Lucrezia had ever heard him make, and she realised he had been turning these thoughts over in his mind for a long time.

‘Does anyone else know how he feels? Does Charley? Does Momma?’

‘Your mother is so involved with fundraisers and decorators that she hardly notices anything. _She_ ,’ and Lucrezia knew he was referring to Charlotte, ‘only sees him. You, like me, are an annoyance that keeps him from giving her his whole attention.’ Lucrezia’s brows drew together at the thought of being considered an annoyance, and she looked at Mick slyly.

‘She wants him to marry her.’

Mick gave a snort of disgust and shook his head. ‘He won’t do that.’

‘But she knows about the insider trading. She figured it out. Honestly Mick, she told me, not the other way around. But I’ve got a plan, for after the benefit we are going to next week.’ He raised his brows as she spoke.

‘By then we will be almost there.’

‘Almost where?’

‘Almost to the point where Cesare can make a decision about his future.’ He gulped more scotch and looked her in the eyes. ‘About you.’

Lucrezia blinked in astonishment and then narrowed her eyes.

‘What about me?’

Mick contemplated her silently, and again she had the feeling that he was choosing his words carefully, thinking how to explain himself in this uncomfortable conversation. He nodded once.

‘If he asks you, and you say yes, then he will need enough money to get completely away with you and start a whole new life. If he asks and you say no, then he will have to go anyway. He can’t stay here if he asks and you refuse.’

Lucrezia drained her glass and poured herself the remainder of the bottle. She saluted Mick with her glass.

‘He won’t have to ask.’

 


	14. Chapter 14

Lucrezia played with the chicken salad on her plate and listened to Charlotte chatter on. Over the summer she had had a lot of practice at pretending interest in what Charlotte was saying, giving smiles and gasps when appropriate, while thinking her own thoughts and making her own plans. Suddenly what Charlotte was saying impinged on her daydream and her mind came back sharply.

‘So after the gig, sweetie, I need you and Mick to back off. Cesare will come back to my apartment and Bert can take you two home.’   Charlotte paused while she took a forkful of her salad, and Lucrezia speared a morsel of chicken.

‘It’s been fun this summer, hanging around with each other, hasn’t it sweetie? You have been a real friend to me, helping me with Mick and keeping him away from my Cesare while we are out so I can have at least one conversation with him without being interrupted by whispers.’ Lucrezia’s teeth clenched on her chicken at the words “my Cesare” coming from Charlotte’s lips, but she kept her expression open and her brows lifted as Charlotte continued her monologue.

‘But now the summer is coming to an end, and Cesare has got his MBA and will be earning full time money at your daddy’s firm, I thought we might start making plans. Me and Cesare. For us.’ Charlotte beamed over at Lucrezia who viciously stabbed another piece of meat on her plate and then smiled back at Charlotte sweetly.

‘Then after we go to the benefit at the weekend, and we have a lovely time, I need you to start your own life in September when you go back to school, and leave us to start ours. Is that OK sweetie? You do understand, don’t you?’ Lucrezia took a long drink of water and gazed at Charlotte wide-eyed, nodding round her straw.

‘Of course. I shall be busy with all my friends when we go back to school. They have been in Europe this summer, but because of Daddy’s trip away, we had to stay here.’ Lucrezia shrugged and beamed brightly at Charlotte.

‘What are you wearing for the gig, Charley? And for the benefit, of course? I’ve got a formal gown that Momma liked for the benefit,’ she wrinkled her nose and Charlotte gave her a sympathetic smile, ‘and it’s fine, really. Momma is more used to these things, and knows what I should wear. But for the gig, I really want to wear my blue jeans.’

Charlotte reached across and took Lucrezia’s hand, and it took all of Lucrezia’s self-control not to snatch it back. Charlotte pressed it in sympathy.

‘Blue jeans would be fine, sweetie. I won’t be getting dressed up,’ she whispered conspiratorially across the table and Lucrezia kept her smile on her face, ‘because I want as few clothes on as possible for when I get Cesare back to my apartment.’ Lucrezia was glad the straw was back in her mouth because she couldn’t suppress a shriek, but it sounded like a giggle. Charlotte giggled back.

‘Don’t tell him that, will you?’ Lucrezia shook her head mutely, because she was biting the inside of her cheek and couldn’t have formed words as Charlotte continued. ‘But for the benefit, I have a bright yellow body con dress, with the narrowest, cutest red belt you ever saw. What color is your dress, sweetie?’

‘Black.’ Charlotte raised her brows at Lucrezia’s abrupt reply, and Lucrezia made a big thing of swallowing some water, shaking her head and smiling an apology.

‘Sorry, Charley. I had something stuck in the back of my throat. It’s a black silk thing that Momma chose. She said that although it’s black, the cut is just right for my age.’ Lucrezia wrinkled her nose and shrugged. Charlotte patted Lucrezia’s hand and then, much to her relief, let go.

‘I’m sure it’s beautiful if your mother chose it, sweetie. She has wonderful taste.’ Lucrezia nodded happily and they went back to eating their salads, Lucrezia forming in her mind the conversation she needed to have with Mick when he got home from work.

***

‘What guy wouldn’t ditch his best friend or his sister for an offer like that?’ Mick whistled after Lucrezia passed on the message that Charlotte wanted them out of the way after the gig. Lucrezia scowled at him.

‘Cesare.’

‘Yeah, well. She’s got her claws into him now. And he’s not going to pass up a promise like that. He can hardly bring her here, with you and your Mom in the house.’

Lucrezia realised that Cesare hadn’t brought Charlotte back to the house since her ‘nightmare’ had interrupted them. She knew he had been staying over at Charlotte’s apartment a couple of times a week, but she had refused to ask him about it. She pretended she didn’t know he hadn’t been home; like even if she couldn’t see him, she always knew where he was. She looked at Mick with narrow eyes.

‘Then perhaps her claws need removing, Mick. Permanently.’

‘Like you did with the others?’

Lucrezia’s eyes widened and she put her head to one side, smiling slightly; she hadn’t realised Mick had known.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You know what I mean. You need to delete some of your internet history if you borrow his lap top. I use it all the time, and I saw the email you sent Ursula’s parents. I deleted it from the outbox before he saw it though.’ He paused and looked at her, snorting in amusement, ‘And I saw you in the sandbox.’

‘Hmm.’ Lucrezia paused in her thoughts, then shrugged and smiled happily at him, her new confidant and partner in her ‘crimes’.

‘Mick, have you been on the boardwalk lately?’

‘No, not really.’ Mick shrugged carelessly. Lucrezia took a deep breath and shuffled along the couch so she didn’t have to raise her voice.

‘Let me tell you what I saw.’

 


	15. Chapter 15

The benefit was still going on, but they had all had enough; the venue was full of people her parents’ age and Lucrezia wanted to go for a walk. Cesare was happy to take her into the fresh air, and rounded up Mick and Charlotte to accompany them.

When she had come out of her bedroom in her black dress, she had seen the expression on Cesare’s face and she squirmed inside in delight. He hadn’t expected her to wear something so sophisticated. The neckline was a deep vee, and the globes of her breasts were just visible. She couldn’t wear a bra, so had stuck the edges of her dress to her skin with modesty tape. The dress hugged her shape lovingly, the cut of the silk moving as she moved, and although it was floor length, there was a slit up the side so she could walk.

‘Wow, Baby, you look amazing.’ The breathlessness of the compliment made her dimple at him and he again looked surprised.

‘Thank you Cesare. You don’t look so bad yourself.’ She wanted to tell him he looked amazing in his tux, but didn’t dare. They walked slowly down the staircase so Lucrezia didn’t fall in her long dress and high heels, and Mick, waiting in the hall, looked up and whistled. Cesare yelped with laughter and punched Mick on the arm, while Lucrezia smiled up at him and nodded briefly. He nodded back.

They heard Bert bringing the car around and they took their seats, having arranged to pick up Charlotte on the way. As the hosts of the benefit, their parents had gone on ahead to receive their guests from the beginning.

But after the meal and listening to the speeches, and having to dance with some of her father’s business associates, Lucrezia felt she was suffocating and asked Cesare to take her outside to walk along the boardwalk and see the ocean.

Lucrezia went ahead of the group, carrying her shoes in her hand and turning round and round in circles, gazing up at the stars and then out onto the water.

‘This is my picture, Charley. This is where it was painted, right?’ Charlotte, tightly clutching Cesare’s arm; - almost wearing him, Lucrezia thought, - nodded and smiled at the younger girl’s obvious excitement.

‘Yes, sweetie. The pier there is the one in your picture.’

‘Let’s go to the end,’ Lucrezia called, then set off running onto the pier.

‘Hey, be careful.’ Cesare called, and Lucrezia turned and grinned at her brother, nodding and pushing the hair from her eyes. She turned back and went further onto the wooden structure.

‘Don’t go too far, Baby,’ Cesare’s voice was starting to roughen with anxiety, and Charlotte unwrapped herself from his arm.

‘I’ll go and make sure she’s OK, hon,’ she kissed his lips briefly and ran after Lucrezia. Mick caught up to Cesare and silently walked in step with his friend. Suddenly there was a creaking noise, then a crunch of snapping wood and a piercing scream from Lucrezia.

‘Help, Cesare! Charley’s fallen in.’ Both men ran up quickly, and as Cesare hugged Lucrezia to him, Mick stripped off his jacket and kicked off his shoes before diving into the water near where Lucrezia’s trembling finger pointed.

A full minute later, Mick broke the surface of the water, gasping and shaking his head. Cesare was already dialling the emergency services, and he thrust his phone at Lucrezia to hold as he shrugged out of his own jacket, pulled off his shoes and went into the water to help Mick with his search.

Lucrezia sobbed down the phone at the despatcher, who was still on the line trying to reassure her that Search and Rescue would be there in a few moments. Lucrezia watched with huge eyes and trembling lips as both Cesare and Mick came up again, looking wildly round at one another and shaking their heads. Sirens could be heard in the background and the darkness was pierced by the flash of red and blue lights.

‘Cesare, please come out,’ begged Lucrezia. ‘The rescue team is here now; they’ll find her. Mick, come out please.’ Lucrezia collapsed into a sobbing, trembling heap and both Cesare and Mick swam to the iron ladder bolted to the side of the pier and climbed up as the rescue team arrived.

Mick led them to where the wood had broken away from the edge, pointing into the murky water beneath the pier as the team leader nodded and organised his men. Lucrezia clutched tightly to Cesare’s chest, shivering and sobbing even though it was he who was soaked through.

‘It’s my fault, Cesare,’ she whispered. ‘I slipped and Charley tried to catch me.’ She sobbed harder and Cesare rocked her gently, stroking her hair and ghosting kisses across her temple.

‘Hush, Baby. It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident, and they’ll find her. She’ll be fine, Baby, I promise.’

‘But if she hadn’t caught me, Cesare, it would have been me in the water.’ Lucrezia’s sobs grew louder and she began to shake. ‘She grabbed me, and I held on to her hand, then reached the rail, but she slipped where I had and I couldn’t hold her. I wasn’t strong enough and she fell in.’ Lucrezia’s wails had attracted the attention of one of the paramedics, who came over to see if she could help.

‘Your sister is in shock, sir. See if you can get her to stand and come over to the ambulance. You could do with a check over too, if you’ve been in the water.’

Cesare nodded and stood up, bringing Lucrezia with him, then catching her as her ankle gave way.

‘I hurt myself when I slipped, Cesare.’ Lucrezia looked up at him with tears pooling in her eyes. ‘Charley tried to help me but …..’ Cesare stooped and swept Lucrezia into his arms, striding over to the ambulance where Mick stood shivering in a rescue blanket. He placed Lucrezia carefully on the tailgate and let the paramedic put a foil blanket round his own shoulders as her partner examined Lucrezia’s ankle. Cesare watched his probing fingers and took hold of Lucrezia’s hand when she cried out in pain. Mick silently watched the divers as they searched the water under the pier.

Suddenly a diver broke the surface of the water and held his arm aloft, and the other divers swam towards him, then all three submerged again, leaving a trail of bubbles on the surface of the water.

‘They’ve found something,’ muttered Mick to Cesare, who was still holding Lucrezia’s hand as the paramedic bound her ankle tightly. Cesare looked toward the water with a bleak expression on his face. Lucrezia determinedly kept her gaze on the bandage the paramedic was fastening with elastic clips.

The other paramedic spoke quietly into her shoulder mic and then pulled the gurney from the back of the ambulance, placing a large black shape on top, then wheeling the whole thing down to the edge of the pier.

‘Recovery, not rescue.’ Mick’s expressionless whisper made Cesare close his eyes briefly then turn away, standing in front of Lucrezia as the paramedic went to help his partner by the water’s edge. Lucrezia gazed up at the tall frame of her brother, allowing her lip to tremble and tears fill her eyes.

‘What was that thing they took on the gurney, Cesare? It wasn’t a blanket like you’ve got.’ Cesare held her hand tighter and she stood carefully, not putting her injured foot to the floor. His arms went round her and he bent his face into her hair, crushing her into his arms. Lucrezia gazed blankly at Mick, and he looked back at her impassively.

‘Body bag.’

Lucrezia allowed the tears to fall.

 


	16. Chapter 16

Mick glanced up from the lap top screen balancing on his knees as Lucrezia padded softly into the newly refurbished orangerie, and nodded as she dropped down beside him on the couch, sipping her smoothie.

‘Hey Mick.’

‘Hey Lucrezia. Seen this?’ He turned the lap top to face her and she quickly scanned the writing on screen.

**_Council Carelessness Causes Catastrophe_** by Nick McVelli

_Tragedy stalked the fundraising benefit held last night by Mr & Mrs Rodrigo Borgia to help children with disabilities, the charity for which Mrs Borgia is the patron. While the rich and famous made merry at the gala event, Cesare, the heir to the Borgia fortune took a stroll along the boardwalk with his girlfriend Charlotte Albret, whom readers of this paper may remember from the Independent Artisan’s Gallery near the wharf, his sister Lucrezia and his cousin Mick Corella. In a freak accident, young Lucrezia lost her footing due to the shameful neglect of the Town Council to mend the rotten wood, about which this newspaper has campaigned for several months. Miss Albret, heedless of her own welfare, grabbed Miss Borgia and in pulling her to safety, fell into the tumultuous current. Both Mr Borgia and Mr Corella bravely entered the water to search for Miss Albret while Miss Borgia phoned the emergency services, but sadly they were unable to rescue her. Police divers found her body under the pier itself, and a spokesman told this reporter that Miss Albret’s belt had become hooked on one of the vicious wooden spikes hidden by the tide, and her struggling simply tightened its hold, so Miss Albret tragically drowned._

_Miss Albret’s family are flying out to Connecticut to reclaim her body, and there has been a statement issued saying they will pursue the Town Council through a court of law, both for damages in their daughter’s death, and to make sure this tragedy never happens again._

Lucrezia raised her brows at Mick and turned the lap top back around. She swallowed more smoothie and waited.

‘Where’s Cesare?’ growled Mick softly, tone as flat as a sheet of steel.

‘Gone with Momma to meet Charlotte’s parents. They are flying in this morning to take Charlotte’s body home to Louisiana. Momma thought it would be too upsetting for me to go with them.’

‘Hmph.’ Mick snorted doubtfully then began to cough. He took a drink of the coffee beside him on the low wicker table and his breathing finally settled.

‘Are you okay, Mick?’

‘Sure. Why?’ Mick looked surprised at her question, and Lucrezia shrugged.

‘With the water. You went down a couple of times, so I just, you know....’ Lucrezia shrugged again.

‘I’m fine. Her belt helped. I just had to make sure Cesare didn’t see her. I went back down to guide him away. Swallowed some, I guess.’ He took another mouthful of coffee and returned her gaze, then asked tersely, ‘How are you?’

‘Fine, really. My shoulder aches a little from pulling her over. The angle was wrong, so when she grabbed me I had to pull harder than I thought to get her over the rail.’ Lucrezia pressed her lips together then gave him a small smile.

‘I don’t know how to thank you.’ Lucrezia put her hand on Mick’s arm and he looked down at it incredulously. He raised his ice-blue eyes to hers.

‘Sure you do, but I won’t ask that of you.’ There was a long pause, and just as Lucrezia thought he wasn’t going to say anything else, his voice rumbled in his throat, ‘Be sure to make him happy.’

‘I will. I’ll make him happy, I promise.’

She tightened her grip on his arm to a squeeze, and Mick nodded, then turned his gaze back to the lap top while Lucrezia sipped her smoothie and gazed through the window at the water in the pool and wondered about drowning and how it felt.

***

Lucrezia’s eyes snapped open. A noise. She listened carefully and heard it again. Not a noise, a shout.

Cesare.

She got out of bed and went through the bathroom into Cesare’s room. He was still asleep, but obviously in the throes of a nightmare. The covers were twisted round and entangled in his legs as he thrashed and turned on the bed. Lucrezia slid onto the mattress beside him, running her hand up his bare torso and across his shoulders, feeling his heart pound hard in his chest before she reached his jaw and encountered the scruff of his beard. He began muttering again, and she rubbed her thumb over his bottom lip just as he woke with a start and stared at her with unseeing eyes, still in the thrall of his dream.

‘Cesare. Cesare, what’s wrong?’ Lucrezia pressed her hand to the side of his face, making him look at her, and raised her voice slightly to break into his consciousness. He let out a shuddering breath and caught her hand, pressing a kiss into the palm then holding it tightly against his chest.

‘I dreamed I’d lost you.’ She could hear the emotion in his throat and she smiled inwardly, allowing him to keep hold of her hand but snuggling closer so he drew her into himself with his other arm.

‘But Cesare, in my dream I lost _you_ , and it almost came true. I saw it happen to you, but instead it happened to poor Charley.’ She allowed tears to escape her eyes, knowing he would feel the dampness on his chest as they landed on his skin.

‘It was an accident, Baby. If the town council had cleaned up under the pier like they were supposed to, she wouldn’t have got her belt hooked on one of those spikes. She would have come straight back up, or me or Mick would have found her and helped her. But it wasn’t your fault, it was just a freak accident. Fate conspiring against us.’

Lucrezia nodded silently, then untangling her hand, she began to stroke his cheek again, round his jaw and chin, rubbing the pad of her thumb along his lip. He caught hold of her hand and pressed it to his chest.

‘Baby, stop……you shouldn’t …..I can’t….     Just stop, okay?’ Lucrezia huffed a long sigh and found a way of pressing herself even closer to his long frame. She dropped her voice to a whisper.

‘I don’t want to stop.’ She turned her face up to watch his reaction and saw him close his eyes briefly, as if in pain.

‘You _must_ stop. Because if you carry on, I won’t be _able_ to.’

Still in his embrace, she turned her head and placed an open-mouthed kiss on his chest, then let her tongue dart forwards and lick the nub of his nipple. He groaned in the back of his throat and slid his arm down her body, sliding his hand inside the elastic of her tap shorts and smoothing his palm across her buttocks.

She flung her leg across his, and prepared to slide herself across him. As she did so, his hand dipped even further and she felt his fingers slide between her legs; she knew she was wet for him and now he knew it too. Lucrezia heard his gasp and felt him freeze beneath her. She continued her capture of his body, pushing down the sheet from round his hips and placing her knees on either side of him. Her hands caressed him, feeling him harden at her touch and hearing his breath shudder from his lips. She had never done this before, had no idea what she should do, but he was obviously pleased.

Lucrezia arched her body down and kissed him fully on his lips, tasting him and tickling her tongue with his, and Cesare grasped her hips and placed her over himself, lifting his pelvis to press himself against her. She sat up and, crossing her arms, stripped off her vest top to bare her breasts and Cesare caught her nipple in his mouth. Carefully, not wanting to spoil the moment, she freed one leg and then the other from her shorts and then found Cesare, hard and rampant and slid him inside herself, snugly encompassing his length as he sighed a shuddering breath. She thought he liked that, too.

Rocking forward, she slid her hands over his shoulders to steady herself and then they found their rhythm. He captured her lips and plundered her mouth as his hands stroked her breasts and then down her back to clasp her buttocks. Wide open to the heat and pressure of his body thrusting and pressing against her, Lucrezia started to feel light headed, with a fluttering feeling in her stomach building to a clenching crescendo as she flung her head back and Cesare’s mouth moved to her breasts as he pressed her hips down, pulsing and twitching and flooding her as she tightened and clamped around him. Both of them bit back a scream as they climaxed, then Lucrezia pitched forward and slid her body along his, every part of her touching every part of him.

They lay still and silent like that for a long time, and Lucrezia smiled to herself; she knew she had bound him to her forever. He wouldn’t be able to leave her now. She squirmed against him, suppressing a giggle at the groan of satisfaction that came from deep in his chest. He was hers.

‘Cesare.’

‘Yes, Baby?’

‘Do you miss her?’

‘I dunno.’ She felt him shrug next to her. ‘I guess. But if it had happened to you, I would have died too.’ He brushed a kiss on the top of her head and squeezed her hand.

‘Baby, I have tried to be other than I am. Dad wanted me to find a girl, so I tried to have a normal relationship with Ursula, but she was always banging on about religion and God’s wrath. I was relieved when her parents sent her away.’

‘Then you found Katrina.’ Her voice was a tentative whisper.

He began to chuckle deep in his chest, and Lucrezia looked at him curiously.

‘I rather think Katrina found me. She scared the hell out of me, Baby. It was like being stalked by a tigress; I felt devoured. Then when her kid hurt you, I knew I couldn’t be with her. You were the most important thing, but Dad wanted me to keep looking for someone else, so I found Charlotte.’ He shrugged.

‘But Baby, I think I need to get away from here.   Get out from under Dad’s shadow. I’ve been talking about it to Mick and he’s all for coming in with me, our own business.’

‘And you would leave here? Leave me?’ Lucrezia allowed panic to enter her voice, although she already knew what his response would be.

‘Baby, I could never leave you. I want you to come with us. Mick said you would, but I wanted to ask.’ Lucrezia couldn’t help herself ; she laughed and kissed him softly on his lips, her hand stroking down his body again. She looked into his green eyes, and in her peripheral vision on his night stand she saw the mermaid snow globe; a beautiful siren luring the unwary onto the rocks.

Lucrezia beamed a happy smile.

‘Mick knows something you don’t, Cesare.’

‘What’s that, Baby?’

‘That you don’t have to ask.’

                                                                                                                      

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to all of you who have been kind enough to leave a comment or kudos. I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed creating it.


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